Indian Rohan Bopanna and his Polish partner Marcin Matkowski lost the final battle in the men's doubles of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships here on Saturday but not before producing a stiff fight.
The unseeded Indo-Polish pair started strongly before going down 6-4, 3-6, 3-10 to the fourth seeded Romanian-Dutch pair of Horia Tecau and Jean-Julien Rojer.
He had won the Dubai Open three times in the past -- in 2012, 2014 and 2015.
This was the second final for Bopanna this season. He had started the season by winning the Chennai Open with compatriot Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan.
Bopanna and Matkowski were off to a strong start, forcing a service break in the fifth game of the opening set and held on to the advantage to take the lead.
The second game went with the serve before the fourth seeds earned a service break in the fourth game, and this proved to be enough as they went on to win the set and restore parity.
Tecau and Rojer continued the momentum and dominated the super tie-break to clinch the match and the title.
(With IANS inputs)
